Jim Oshust, who was the Coliseum’s manager 25 years ago or so,  always argued the Coliseum couldn’t operate as a typical city enterprise. Such words caused dismay among city council members.  The council thought the city-owned coliseum ought to go through the same laborious bidding process other municipal agencies endured when new projects were in the works.

Oshust said he needed the right to wheel and deal with show promoters, concession people and contractors.  He was, after all, in show biz.

Current  Coliseum General Manager Matt Brown would second Oshust’s opinion.

Nobody is a better master of unconventional business doings than Brown, who has been at the big complex on West Lee Street for about 20 years.

You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours is his way, though in a positive sense.

“Trade and barter” is how Brown described his strategy while visiting the media  area during the recent ACC men’s tournament.

Brown’s maneuverings glow in the Terrace, the new social and entertainment center that opened this month between War Memorial Auditorium and the main Coliseum arena.  It is new space for socializing and dining during the ACC and other events.

At the Terrace’s  ribbon cutting held before the start of the women’s ACC tournament,  Brown talked about the heating and air conditioning. The cost would have been $300,000.  Brown got it for free.  He mentioned the demolition work needed to prepare the site for construction of the Terrace. That would have cost $38,000.  Again, Brown got the work done for nothing.

The heating and air conditioning was courtesy of the Brady-family operated Trane Co. franchise; the demolition by the venerable Greensboro business, D.H. Griffin Co.  Without their donation the Terrace would have been a no go. The city didn’t have the money to pay for these necessities.

“They get tickets and a sign,” said Brown of what the two companies and other contributors receive in return for their contributions.  Those  include tickets for the ACC men and women’s tournaments.

He says the Coliseum has a deal with Sherwin-Williams Co. The coliseum gets 25,000 gallons of paint annually to keep the big complex looking spiffy.

Brown makes no apology for the deal making. It will continue, he says, because  “it is a way to accomplish things.”

Not to mention that it saves taxpayers money.  And credit Brown with gall. It takes a lot of confidence to ask a company to provide $300,000 work of work for free.

As if the ACC basketball tournament wasn’t enough, Coliseum managing director Matt Brown sounded disappointed an unrelated event wasn’t scheduled Saturday night for part of his vast entertainment complex.

“We tried to book an event for the auditorium,” he said, adding, “We never said no” to bookings.

Brown said the Coliseum’s contract with the Atlantic Coast Conference calls for the tournament to have single occupancy of the complex, with the exception of  War Memorial Auditorium.  It can be leased  Saturday and Sunday nights after ACC games are completed in the late afternoon.

With the coming of a new aquatic center and amphitheater, Brown’s staff believes it could handle more events coinciding with the tournament.  If enough parking were available. Parking spaces have been lost to the under-construction aquatic center and amphitheater.

Still, three or four simultaneous events are not unusual at the Coliseum. Brown recalled a recent day when 21,000 were in the 23,000 plus seat arena.  A bridal show occupied the Coliseum Pavilion.  A gun show took over the Special Events Center.  And a play, “Beauty and the Beast,” was performed in the auditorium.

Brown said the parking bugaboo is being looked at. The Coliseum hopes to expand its parking.

ACC shorts:

New UNC system President Tom Ross would have to wear neutral colors if, say, UNC-Chapel Hill were playing UNC-G.  But neutrality hasn’t been necessary during the ACC tournament,  with only two state supported schools in the mix, and neither played each other.  Therefore, Ross was free to attend games wearing a powder blue sweater.

When Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski walked onto the court for Sunday’s championship game against UNC, he seemingly signaled  with one finger toward a Tar Heel player who was warming up in front of him.

Actually, he was directing his attention far away – across the court, pass press row and up into the stands.

There sat his wife, Mickey.  The  question is why did she have a rather lousy seat.?  Why wasn’t she seated with other Duke people behind the team’s bench?

Shorts:

The headband across the head of the Maryland Turtle – the team’s  mascot – said “Call for Advertisement.”   A joke, but not a bad idea. The  amphibian was no slow-poke in getting around the Coliseum floor and side court.  An ad message would have been seen by thousands.

The tournament wasn’t  blessed with an appearance by Minister Louis Farrakhan, whose grandson, Mustapha Farrakhan, is an important cog in Virginia’s cage team.  TV cameras picked up the Muslin leader in a luxury box seat at a recent Virginia game. But word is the minister doesn’t care that much for basketball and attended  few Virginia games. Don’t look for him at any games next year. His grandson is a senior this year.

Dick Vitale worked press row Saturday handing out Save the Date invitations to  the Sixth Annual Dick Vitale Gala that will be held May 20 in Florida. The event, to benefit the Foundation for Cancer Research, will honor UNC Coach Roy Williams and Kentucky Coach John Calipari.  Vitale was perpetual motion at court side,  among other doings posing for a photo with the Clemson pep band.

Is nothing sacred?  When the public address announcer asked people to stand for the National  Anthem and said it would be played by the UNC pep band, a lone but loud voice shouted, “Go to hell, Carolina!”

Question:  When the public address announcer says at intervals in a game, “There’s a time out on the floor,” where else could the time out be?

Remember that adage, an inch is as good as a mile.  Harrison Barnes said something close to it at a post game press conference Saturday.  Barnes, who racked up 40 points in Carolina’s come-from-behind, overtime win against Clemson,  hit crucial three-point shots as time was running out. On of his teammates , responding to a question whether Barnes was nervous, declared that for Barnes it’s  “the same shot with five seconds” left  as it is with 20 minutes.  Tar Heel coach Roy Williams was impressed.  “Great answer,” he said.

When the Spalding brand comes to mind, one thinks of baseball gloves, basketball and baseballs and until not too many years ago, golf clubs and equipment used by touring pros.

Unless you own a basketball arena, you probably don’t know that Spalding makes backboards..

It’s the Cadillac of backboards, according to coliseum maintenance workers, who were busy between afternoon and evening games Friday with window cleaner to make the glass sparkle.

The crew also periodically measures the backboard and rim for height and alignment. Not once, the workmen said, have they ever found a board or rim tilting or too high or too low. The rim must be exactly 10 feet above the floor.  That is testimony, they said, to the quality of the Spalding product. 

 More than 100 Coliseum workers did clean up duty on the floor and in the stands. Seats were wiped clean. They collected bottles and other debris in bags. A robust vacuum cleaner swept popcorn from the rugs in the space behind the backboards and  adjoining seats 

The idea is to have an arena as clean as it was  before the afternoon session for the night session. They had about one hour to get the job done.

It wasn’t a buzzer beater, it was a gate saver.

One of the problems with the ACC tournament in Greensboro or Charlotte is attendance becomes too dependent on Carolina winning.

If the Tar Heels had failed to make a mind-boggling comeback Friday against Miami at the Coliseum,  rows of seats without rear ends would have been the result Saturday. 

Carolina had a bye in Thursday’s first round of the tournament and it showed in attendance.  Lots of green Coliseum seats were empty.  Contrast that to Friday when Carolina played the first game. Only a few patches of green could be seen.

If the Heels had lost to Miami,  attendance would have plummeted Saturday. Oh, sure, officially the games would be announced as sell outs. All 23,000 tickets have been sold.   But lots of those tickets are held by Carolina supporters, who can afford economically to stay home rather than come to the Coliseum to watch a team other than the Tar Heels. Indeed, the upper decks emptied out Friday for the second game between Boston College and Clemson.

 However, a near capacity crowd appeared for the evening’s session’s first game, a marquee event, Duke versus Maryland. But plenty of empty seats were visible for the night’s final game between Virginia Tech and Florida State.

There was a time, or so it seems in retrospect, when every seat was taken and it sometimes took a scalper’s ticket to gain entry. When N.C. State had a strong program, its large alumni corps could be counted on to fill seats.  But State has been down for years.  State was one of the teams which played Thursday before a three-fourths full Coliseum. 

Duke?   It   has a “subway following” – fans who didn’t attend the highly selective  Durham school.  But those and the Duke alumni aren’t enough to generate the following that Carolina does. Many UNC alums live in the area. Duke’s alumni are spread all over the nation and world.

Forget Wake Forest. It is one of the smallest Division I schools in the NCAA. Even if Demon Deacons were good – and the team had a horrible season –  it wouldn’t count for that much in attendance.  It’s alumni base is too small.

Another factor weakening turn out is ACC expansion.  In the old days, when eight teams stretched ing from Maryland to Georgia, it was easy for alumni of all schools to get here.  It’s not a quick trip for supporters Boston College, Miami and Florida State.

The one plus is the addition of Virginia Tech to the league. The Blacksburg school is close by and Hokie backers travel with their team.

So go State.  If it hires a new coach, make him a throw back to Jim Valvano or Norm Sloan. Those guys knew how to put spectators in seats.

Talk about a versatile player.

Dr. Paul Garcia showed he can play with as well as direct musicians during  Thursday’s night N.C. State versus Maryland game.

The director of  bands at State, Garcia pounded the drums while the pep band played the Wolfpack fight song and other peppy tunes.

“It’s spring break and the other drummers aren’t here,”  he said.  “I’m covering.”

What happens when a coach constantly jesticulates and makes hand signals but his team pays no attention?

Nothing. The players just play on, shooting and scoring.

Boston College players seem to know when to watch and to listen to their excitable, kinetic coach, Steve Donahue, and when to ignore him because he’s letting off nervous energy.

Sometimes he signals the obvious.  After Wake Forest scored several baskets in the second game of Thursday’s opening round of  the ACC basketball tournament, Donahue wildly motioned for his team to come down to the opposite end of the court, where they were headed anyway. Where else would you expect the players to go?

Donahue, in his first year as the Eagles coach, is somewhat of a reminder of Maryland’s Gary Williams, who is also a court side pacer and arm waver.  Both can pivot suddenly toward the bench and say something to a seated player who has nothing to do with what’s happening on the court.

Unlike,,Williams, though, Donahue doesn’t look as if he’s about to explode with rage. He doesn’t get so worked up, as does Williams, to soak a suit with sweat.  Donahue removed his suit coat at the start of the game and kept his tie knotted and his white shirt tucked into his trousers as he strode up and down the court side.

He is the opposite of Al Skinner, who Donahue replaced as BC’s coach. The slender, lanky Skinner rarely rose from his seat during games.

The former Georgia Tech coach, Bobby Cremins, was another who constantly made motions and gyrations from the bench. His teams seemed not to notice. But as one of  Cremins’ assistants once said, “There’s method to his madness.”  For the most part, Cremins produced winners.

Same for Donahue.  He won championships at Cornell before moving to BC.  His team easily beat Wake Forest for the Eagles’ fourth straight victory.

It’s irritating to switch on the radio to an ACC basketball game only to have the announcer fail to give the score.
That doesn’t happen with Joe Zagacki of WQAM Miami, the voice of the University of Miami Hurricanes.

He keeps a tiny hour glass bottle beside him during games to remind him every 90 seconds to give the score and time remaining. The sand in the top of the hour glass drifts to the bottom in that amount of time.

If Zabacki ever forgets it’s because he’s too excited. He shows his emotions during games, especially Thursday’s when Miami overcame a ten point deficit in 35 seconds and beat Virginia in overtime in the opening round of the ACC men’s tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.

He jabbed the hour with his fist when the Canes made a three pointer. He looked disgusted when the team was down by 11 at one point.

“We are passionate about our team,” he said, speaking for himself and color analyst Josh Darrow. “We don’t get a lot of respect.”

He can recall several other games when Miami overcame big deficits, but “this is the best,” as he took off his headphones after the final buzzer.

D.H. Griffin Sr.,  the demolition dynamo who started with nothing and built an international company bearing his name,  has found his lofty status doesn’t exempt him from insults from a far richer man, multi-billionnaire, health food fanatic David Murdock.

Griffin, however, is $100,000 richer for having tolerated Murdock’s harsh words..

Read about it in the March 6 issue of the New York Times Sunday magazine.

The story says Griffin’s Greensboro company was doing demolition work necessary for Murdock to spend $500 million of his own money to build the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis.

The institution is dedicated to the study of eatable plants that Murdock and others believe lead to longevity. The story said Murdock, who is 87 and who owns such companies as the Dole fruit company, has set a goal of living to 125 through healthy eating.

“When he first met with D.H. Griffin……he took note of Griffin’s size. At 5-foot-11, he weighed about 285 pounds,” Times writer Frank Bruni wrote.

Murdock bluntly told the 71-year old Griffin that he was demolishing himself.

“You’re probably going to die before this job’s done, because you’re so fat and unhealthy,” Murdock is quoted as saying.

Murdock said Griffin’s family would wind up paying “extra money for an extra-large coffin.”

Murdock then made Griffin an offer. Lose 30 pounds and receive a bonus.

Griffin did.  The pay out: $100,000.

Alas, the story says, Griffin has regained 22 pounds. But a spokesperson in Griffin’s office said Murdock has now sought to claw back any of the 100 grand.

Since it opened in 1953,  Moses Cone Memorial Hospital has been one continuous construction project.  Finish one new addition and another starts. A new heating and air conditioning building is now under construction.

The structure will make more brick and mortar possible.  Moses Cone Health System officials will announce the details soon, but plans call for a giant addition to the hospital, plus some renovation to the existing structure. The heating and air conditioning structure will serve the addition.

The purpose of the project is the elimination of double occupancy rooms.  Once the new construction is done, the hospital will offer single rooms only,  guaranteeing greater privacy for patients and visitors.

In the future, more construction projects will be iffy. The hospital has about used up all the land on its large campus.